“Great things in an organization are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.”
The heart of a strong alumni organization is a small group of dedicated people who make the organization work by their leadership, energy, and effort.
This group usually serves as a board of trustees of the alumni organization. If this group works effectively, the entire alumni organization will be effective and strong.
Participating on your alumni association board should be an enjoyable experience. Such should be the structure of the association!
This article discusses at length the different types of governing bodies adapted by alumni associations of reputed Institutions.
Different structures of the governing body of an alumni association:
Structure 1 - The 4 level hierarchy
This structure is mostly adopted by large & matured alumni associations. A lot of the top alumni associations are on this structure. We are gonna explain it using a couple of examples:
Princeton has one of the oldest alumni associations with over 90,000 alumni worldwide.
The Governing Board The management and supervision of the association is in the hands of the governing board. The board consists of 22 members:
elected from the members of the association
at least one current graduate student
the Dean of the University as an ex-officio member of the Board.
Officers
The officers of the association consist of a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Vice-Treasurer, and Secretary. The officers are elected by the Executive Committee from the members of the association.
Committees
There are various committees which oversee all the various sections of an alumni association. They take care of all the big tasks which are necessary for running an alumni association and managing a big strong alumni network.
The President appoints the Chairs, Vice-Chairs, and members of all the committees.
Executive Committee: The Executive Committee consists of five members, including the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Vice-Treasurer, and Secretary of the association. The Executive Committee manages the affairs of the association between meetings of the Board.
Standing Committees: The Board can establish standing committees according to their need.
Ad Hoc committee: Additional committees may be appointed by the president to focus on specific topics.
The Treasurer proposes the annual budget.
Any expenditure exceeding a certain predetermined limit must be approved by a majority of the Executive Committee.
No part of the funds of the organization will be used for the benefit of any member, trustee, officer, or any other private person.
All the funds and donations of the organization will be used by the organization for it’s own purposes.
Johns Hopkins is the first research institute in the US with over 230,000 alumni around the world.
The Alumni Council
The Alumni Council develops policies and directs the ongoing operations of the alumni association. The Council consists of 40 persons. The Executive Committee elects the members of the association to the Alumni Council.
Council Officers
The Council of Officers consists of four officers: The President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Each officer serves for 2 years. They are elected by the President from the Alumni Council members.
Committees
Executive Committee: The Executive Committee has the full authority on all operational matters of the association. It consists of
Four Council Officers
Five Committee Chairpersons
Standing Committee: The following Standing Committees are formed by the Executive Committee.
Honors and Prizes
Nominations Committee
Communications and Outreach
Alumni Communities
Student Grants
The funds of the Association will be administered by the University and the Council.
The association’s endowment or other non-budgeted funds will be managed by the University as directed by the Executive Committee.
The Treasurer develops and implements a plan for the funding activities.
The alumni association budget is developed by the Treasurer in collaboration with the University and presented to the Executive Committee for review and then presented for ratification by the full Council. We'd like to point out a major difference here. While Princeton had usage of funds decided by the association independently, Johns Hopkins involves the institute for the same.
Here is a list of few more colleges which follow the similar structure:
Amherst College
Williams College
Dartmouth College
Duke's College
IIT Kanpur
Middlebury college
Hamilton college
Swarthmore college
Michigan college
Georgetown university
Structure 2: the 3 level hierarchy
This structure is generally adopted by a range of small to large alumni associations. It can be personalized in a way that it offers less organizational workload but at the same time the same structural foundation as the 4 level hierarchy. Here is an example to explain it better:
Harvard is the oldest higher education institution in the United States with over 29,000 alumni worldwide.
Board of Directors
The affairs of the association are managed by the Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors is composed of:
Officers: President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.
Directors: Appointed by the Dean of Continuing Education.
Ex-President
Committees
The Committee Chairs are appointed by a majority vote of the Board. The Dean of Continuing Education has a non-voting, advisory capacity on all committees.
Election Committee: Composed of three members of the Board of Directors. The committee takes the responsibility of the election processes in the association.
Awards Committee: Composed of three members of the Board of Directors. The committee shall be responsible for administering Association awards.
Advisory Committee: Composed of retired Officers, who will serve as advisory members.
Finance Committee: Takes care of all the funds and donations of the association. Treasurer will be the Chair of this committee.
All the financial matters are taken care of by the finance committee under the supervision of the Dean of Continuing Education.
Here is a list of few other colleges which follow this structure:
Rice University
Washington University
MIT
Cornell Univ
Bates college
Northwestern college
California institute of technology
Holy cross college
University of Richmond
Connecticut college
Structure 3: the 2 level hierarchy
This structure is mostly adopted by associations where a lot of execution independence is not given to the full time executives of the association & instead the volunteer alumni at leadership positions do the bulk of the work. Here are a couple of examples of the structure:
The Executive Committee The Executive Committee consists of:
Ten association members nominated by the Institute.
Three ex-officio members from the Institute, namely the Director, Dean (Alumni and External Relations), and the Chief Administrative Officer.
The Dean (Alumni and External Relations) coordinates the activities of the association at the Institute.
The Director of the Institute appoints the Chief Administrative Officer of the Institute as Treasurer of the Association.
The President, Secretary, and Vice President are elected by the Executive Committee from among themselves.
The Executive Committee has full authority on all operational matters of the association and frames the rules and regulations for the activities.
The President has the power to fill any vacated seats in the committee.
The duration of the Executive Committee i for a period of two years.
All funds of the Association will be used exclusively for the purposes of the Association.
The Secretary has the authority to approve any budgeted expenditure.
Board Of Directors The Board of Directors consists of:
Treasurer
Seven other members
A current Institute’s student nominated by the Director of the Institute.
Professor-In-charge of Alumni Affairs of the institute by faculty nomination by the Director.
The chairman & treasurer are appointed by the board of directors and serve for 1 year. Remaining members of the board serve for 3 years.
In case of the vacancy of the elected member prior to the completion of the three years, the vacancy may be filled up by the Board.
All funds of the Company will be used exclusively for the purposes of association.
Here is a list of few other colleges which follow this structure:
Brown University
IIT Roorkee
University of Notre Dame
Carleton college
University of California- Berkeley
Colby college
Bentley university
Northeastern university
Baruch College
Indiana University
Summary
The governing structures can be broadly divided into three structures:
Four-level hierarchy: This structure is mostly adopted by large & matured alumni associations. A lot of the top alumni associations are on this structure.
Three-part structure: This structure is generally adopted by a range of small to large alumni associations. It can be personalized in a way that it offers less organizational workload but at the same time the same structural foundation as the 4 level hierarchy.
Two-part structure: This structure is mostly adopted by associations where a lot of execution independence is not given to the full time executives of the association & instead the volunteer alumni at leadership positions do the bulk of the work.
Disclaimer: All referencing of the bye laws of the respective associations has been done as per dated 15th Aug 2020..
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